Half sovereign
Obverse | |
---|---|
Design | Portrait of reigning monarch. The coin shows Elizabeth II. |
Reverse | |
Design | Saint George and the Dragon |
Designer | Benedetto Pistrucci |
Design date | 1817 (first used on half sovereign in 1893) |
The half sovereign is a British gold coin denominated at one-half of a pound sterling. First issued in its present form in 1817, it has been struck by the Royal Mint in most years since 1980 as a collector's and bullion piece.
The half sovereign was originally introduced in 1544 during the reign of
Production of half sovereigns continued until 1926 and, apart from special issues for coronation years, was suspended until 1980. Since then it has been struck for sale by the Royal Mint, although it does not circulate. In addition to the portrait of the reigning monarch, the coin features in most years an image of
English coin (1544–1604)
Henry VII left a large treasury – the modern equivalent of about £375 million – to his successor Henry VIII (r. 1509–1547). The inherited wealth was dissipated due to Henry VIII's extravagant lifestyle and the war expenses needed to maintain a claim over France.[4] These expenses led to the repeated debasement of the currency over the younger Henry's reign.[5]
The half sovereign was introduced as part of Henry's third issue of coins, in 1544, debasing the coinage still further. The coin depicts a crowned King Henry sitting in his chair of state, holding his orb and sceptre on the obverse, while the reverse features a royal shield containing the arms of France and England, supported by a lion and a dragon. Henry's titles as king surround the designs on both sides, and HR (Henricus Rex, or Henry the King) appears at the bottom of the reverse design.[6]
The new coin continued to be struck in the reign of Henry's son and successor, Edward VI (r. 1547–1553), initially with the designs of the previous reign, and later with a depiction of Edward seated in the chair of state.[7]
The half sovereign was struck again under
British coin (1817 to present)
Origin
During the Napoleonic Wars, large amounts of gold left Britain, and worn guineas and bank notes were used for currency.[13] After the final defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo (1815), Parliament, by the Coinage Act 1816, placed Britain officially on the gold standard, with the pound to be defined as a given quantity of gold. Almost every speaker in the parliamentary debate supported having a coin valued at twenty shillings, rather than continuing to use the guinea, valued at twenty-one shillings.[14] One reason for the introduction of gold coinage based on the sovereign was that its value, equal to one pound sterling, was more convenient than the guinea.[15] Nevertheless, the Coinage Act did not specify which coins the Mint should strike.[16]
A committee of the
The shield was a new version of the royal arms,[15] bearing the quartered arms of England, Scotland and Ireland, with the Hanoverian arms surmounted by a royal crown.[21] The kings of Britain also ruled Hanover between 1714 and 1837; the arms of Hanover depicted the armorial bearings of Brunswick, Lüneburg and Celle.[22] According to the Royal Mint's historian, Kevin Clancy, in his book on the sovereign's history:
a much more traditional fate awaited the first half-sovereigns issued in more than 200 years. All the powers of exuberance had plainly been expended on designing the larger coin and what emerged into circulation in September 1817 was an angular shield of the Royal Arms ... ensuring there was a fractional element to the gold coinage demonstrated forward thinking but, like its higher-value partner, it found the first few years of life beset with troubles.[23]
The half sovereign, proclaimed legal tender on 10 October 1817,[24] became the smallest gold coin in regular use.[19] The first issues of the half sovereign, depicting the bust of George III (r. 1760–1820), were issued dated 1817, 1818 and 1820, with none dated 1819, a year in which few sovereigns were struck.[25] Few gold coins were issued in 1819 because of a proposal that gold should be retained in the Bank of England and only issued in ingots worth £233, a plan which did not succeed.[26]
1820–1837
The first type of half sovereign minted during the reign of George IV (r. 1820–1830) features his portrait engraved by Pistrucci wearing a laurel wreath on the obverse and an ornately garnished crowned shield on the reverse which was designed by Jean Baptiste Merlen. This initial reverse, issued in 1821, was quickly withdrawn due to its similarity in size and appearance to the sixpence, meaning that the sixpence could more easily be gilded and passed off as a half sovereign.[27]
The next time the half sovereign was struck, in 1823, it featured a plainer version of the shield on the reverse, designed by Merlen, and Pistrucci's portrait of George. This version was also struck in 1824 and 1825. The king was dissatisfied with his portrayal, and Pistrucci's bust design was replaced beginning with some 1825 coins with an engraving by Wyon, based on a work by
Half sovereigns were not issued for circulation during the reign of William IV (r. 1830–1837) until 1834, though proof coins were issued in 1831. They were issued as well in 1835, 1836 and 1837.[30] The obverse features a barehead bust of William IV, which was engraved by William Wyon from a model by Chantrey. The reverse is similar to the later George IV issues,[31] with a crowned shield and mantle on the reverse which was modelled and engraved by Merlen. The 1834 issue had a reduced diameter, 17.9 mm (most half sovereigns measure 19.4 mm in diameter), though no change was made to the weight or fineness.[32] It is possible that the diameter was reduced so that tools and dies for the Maundy fourpence could be used for the half sovereign.[33] Mint ledgers from this reign record that £60,000 or 120,000 half sovereigns dated 1834 were recalled due to their similarity to the discontinued seven shilling or third guinea pieces.[32] Some 1836 and 1837 half sovereigns are known with a slightly different obverse, apparently taken from the obverse dies for the sixpence. This may have been due to an error by the Royal Mint.[34] It being a common fraud to gild a sixpence to pass it as a half sovereign, beginning in William's reign, the sixpence carried a statement of its value.[35]
Victoria (1837–1901)
Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837 and reigned until 1901; the first half sovereigns of her reign were issued in 1838. The first series of Victorian half sovereigns (1838 to 1886) feature William Wyon's portrait of a youthful Victoria on the obverse, and a shield reverse by Merlen with the Hanoverian arms omitted as Victoria, as a woman, could not become the monarch of Hanover. Struck at the Royal Mint in London every year from 1838 to 1885, excepting 1881 and 1882 (the mint was under renovation in the latter year), there are a number of variations over time generally dealing with the size of Victoria's head, the position and size of the legends and date on the coin, and whether a die number (used by the Royal Mint to track die wear) is included on the reverse.[36][37] Some variations were intentionally introduced by the Royal Mint, according to Sir John Craig in his history of it, "to titillate the numismatists".[38][39]
Gold was discovered in Australia in 1851, leading to requests from colonial officials that a branch of the Royal Mint be established there. After the Sydney Mint opened in 1855, half sovereigns were struck beginning in 1855. Half sovereigns struck at Sydney from 1855 to 1866 were not of the same design as struck in London, but, as the Royal Mint feared that they would not be struck to the same standard, stated their origin at the Sydney Mint as part of the design, and were not legal tender in Britain. Dies for these issues were prepared at London. As trust grew, the Australian coins were accepted as legal tender,[40] and, beginning in 1871, Sydney used the same shield design as did London. The Melbourne Mint opened in 1873, and struck half sovereigns the same year. The Perth Mint opened in 1899, and first struck half sovereigns in 1900. The colonial mints used dies prepared in London and transported by ship,[41][42] which included mint marks on the reverse for the issues that were otherwise identical to those struck in London: S for Sydney, M for Melbourne and P for Perth.[43] In addition to the series struck whilst a branch of the Royal Mint, the modern Perth Mint has struck half sovereigns (with face value A$15) using the early Australian design, though with an inscription denoting their origin at the Perth Mint.[44]
Despite the fact that the half sovereign saw more use in circulation than the sovereign,
The efforts to use silver in place of gold resulted in the 1887 introduction of the
Churchill's successor as chancellor, George Goschen, was slow to decide whether to discontinue the half sovereign, and eventually decided against it. Nevertheless, Goschen was no supporter of the half sovereign, and none were struck at the Royal Mint's facility at Tower Hill between June 1887 and February 1890. No half sovereigns were struck at any mint in 1888, and only Sydney struck them in 1889. In February 1890, Goschen, in his budget statement, took pride in having temporarily curtailed what he described as "the most expensive coin in the world".[54][55]
Boehm's obverse design showing Victoria wearing a crown that was deemed undersized proved controversial, and the Royal Mint was determined to replace it as soon as possible.[56] An advisory committee on the design of coins was appointed, which recommended using Pistrucci's George and Dragon design for the sovereign on the half sovereign.[57] For the obverse, a new design depicting a veiled bust of Victoria by Thomas Brock was used. First used in 1893, coins bearing it have become known as the Old Head coinage.[58] Pistrucci's initials, BP, are not found on the Old Head half sovereign; Richard Lobel, in Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins, commented, "how the egotistical Italian, who spelled his name in full on the 1818 crown, would have hated that!"[34] Half sovereigns with Brock's obverse and the Pistrucci reverse continued to be struck until 1901, the year of the queen's death.[34]
1902–1953
The first half sovereigns during Edward VII's reign (r. 1901–1910) were issued in 1902 and the series continued until 1910. The coin features a bare head bust of Edward VII by George William de Saulles on the obverse and the George and dragon reverse. Coins were minted in London, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. The initial reverse was modified during 1904 to restore Pistrucci's initials to his design and make slight modifications elsewhere. Half sovereigns dated 1904 with the original design were struck at London and Perth; the modified version, with initials, was used at all four mints during that year.[59] Beginning in 1908, the Ottawa branch of the Royal Mint (later the Royal Canadian Mint) struck sovereigns as it was obliged to do on request as a branch of the Royal Mint, mostly for export. Sovereigns and half sovereigns, though legal tender in Canada, did not circulate much. There were no strikings of half sovereigns at Ottawa.[60]
After Edward's death in 1910, half sovereigns featuring the new king,
The 1918-P half sovereign is unusual because there was no record of half sovereigns being struck in Perth that year, and they were most likely produced in 1919 and 1920, and then exported to an uncertain fate, as relatively few are known.
The half sovereign was not included in the sets of
Collector and bullion coin (since 1980)
Although it no longer circulated, the sovereign had been issued as a bullion coin beginning in 1957, and with special-quality proof coins issued from 1979.[68] The Royal Mint realised there was a market for sovereign coins and began to sell them to collectors at well over face or bullion value.[69] In 1980, the first Elizabeth II half sovereigns available to the public were issued, in proof quality, and in 1982, the first half sovereigns sold as bullion coins. Both issues carried the second coinage portrait of Elizabeth II, by Arnold Machin on their obverses, with the Pistrucci design as the reverse. Proof half sovereigns with the Machin obverse were also struck dated 1983 and 1984.[70]
From 1985 to 1997, except in 1989, half sovereigns in proof condition with the third coinage portrait of Elizabeth, by Raphael Maklouf, were struck. Many of these were issued in four-piece gold proof sets with the sovereign, double sovereign and five-pound piece. In 1989, a special design by Bernard Sindall for the 500th anniversary of the sovereign coin was struck in all four denominations.[71] Sindall adapted a design showing an enthroned Queen Elizabeth II that he had originally proposed for the Silver Jubilee crown of 1977 for the obverse, and placed a crowned shield atop a double rose for the reverse.[72]
The fourth coinage portrait of Elizabeth, by
Beginning with some proof 2015 issues, and continuing with bullion issues in 2016, the fifth coinage portrait of Elizabeth II, by Jody Clark was substituted on the half sovereign's obverse. Proof half sovereigns dated 2016 featured an obverse with a different portrait of Queen Elizabeth by James Butler in honour of the queen's 90th birthday. For the 200th anniversary of the modern sovereign in 2017, proof half sovereigns featured a design evocative of the 1817 sovereign, with Pistrucci's design contained within a Garter, and bullion issues bore a privy mark with the number 200 marking the anniversary.[78]
In 2022, the Royal Mint struck half sovereigns with a reverse design by Noad showing an interpretation of the Royal Arms. This design, used for the sovereign and its multiples and fractions, was to mark the
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- ^ Marsh 2017, p. 1.
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External links
- Media related to Half sovereign (British coin) at Wikimedia Commons